Summer is over, what now?

Excited kids, laughing, jumping, kicking and flying into the air.

We started off with a hiss and a bang!  The classes were full and the kids were energised to start learning before the heat of summer struck.


“Helene i just want to say thank you or the work you have done with Olivia last term she has come leaps and bounds with her water safety and confidence in the water . Thank you and can’t wait for next term to start and see what other new amazing things she can accomplish with your teaching”


Winter is here and sickness has arrived.


Some people prefer to just do the summer as it gets colder and the kids are not as keen to continue in the cooler weather.


If you are choosing to not put your child in learn to swim during the winter then ensure they are still going to the pools regularly to keep their confidence up in and around the water.


The advantage of learning to swim with Helene at Turtle Swim School is your child will get continuity of instruction.  Helene knows where your child is at with their learning and has a goal for each child.  If that goal is not reached then that child is looked at and assessed as to what can be done to encourage your child to progress.


  • During the winter go to the pools regularly with your children.
  • Encourage them to play and have fun safely in and around the water.
  • Keep a close eye on your children when they are in or around water.

I love my job.



For years I have taught kids to swim and loved it!









Where do you start though?

How do you go about starting your own swim school?

Don’t I need heaps of money?

Maybe a pool would be good.











Or was it?






The dream was back!  Or was it………







Tears, tears and more tears!










The progression of bubbles.

I got asked to do the progression of bubbles for a conference presenter training but as I got stuck in the snow and all the roads were blocked I was unable to make it up to do my talk on the progression oi bubbles so I thought why not write it on my blog.




“Ok everyone with me take a deep breath, put your face in the water and bubbleeeeeee…..”

Why are bubbles important for learn to swim?

What is a common fault with kids learning to blow bubbles?

Bubbles are essential when learning to breathe because if we do t blow bubbles we can’t breathe.  We are going to move through the water much faster if we let all our air out in the water before we roll out to breathe.

A common fault with children when learning to swim is they don’t take a deep enough breath.  They breathe shallow and are able move towards for a short distance until they need to stop and stand to take a deeper breathe.  So we need to ensure the kids take a deep breathe every time they roll out for a breath.

Swimming Lessons 175
The progression of blowing bubbles.

  1.   Have a race blowing toysacross the pool.
  2.   Teaching breath control without submersion.
  3.   Ring a ring a Rosie’s, bubbles submerged.
  4.   Hold the noodle in a u shape holding onto the side so there is room to put their face in and blow bubbles and learn breath control.
  5.   Big breath in and blow bubbles out for 10 seconds.  Let’s do it three times.
  6.   Feel the air coming into your stomach.
  7.   Streamline across the pool blowing bubbles the whole way across the pool.

    Bubbles is an essential foundation skill when learning to swim.  It is important to ensure the kids are taking nice deep breaths to ensure they can move through the water much faster and with more ease.

Starting my own swim school.

Recently I attended a swimming conference and I loved seeing people’s reactions when I told them I had my own swim school.  It’s a common dream in the learn to swim industry.  So seeing their reaction and asking me questions made me feel so great of the accomplishment that I have made.

There was a seed that was planted in my head when I was working in Scotland managing and running a swim school there.  I thought it would be a unacheivable dream that was so far from my reach.  In 2014 my dream turned into reality when I was able to start running out of a local school pool offering after school lessons.


My husband and I decided to move our family to Tauranga so I thought that was it the dream was over.  There were a few tears thinking that I would have to start from scratch again.

We moved to Papamoa and brought a house with enough space to put a pool in.  After getting a few quotes of 80k-100k there were more tears, I was devastated!  Where were we going to get that sort of money to put a pool in? I wanted to make my dream reality once more.  There were thoughts of running out of a school again but felt that it would be much better to see if we could make it work out of our own home.

We were lucky enough that the bank said yes and then after a few more tears we were all go.

Oh my goodness here we go!  In June 2016 we said yes to Penguin Pools.  We were about to put a 12 meter pool in our back yard.

It wasn’t that easy though!  I would have loved it if it was.


They started digging and wow wow the amount of sand was incredible!  It was exciting seeing it all happen but it was also very stressful.  The deep end was going to be 2.2 meters deep.  Which seemed achievable until the digging started and they hit the water table.  Where we live the water table is very high and they had to dig down to 2 meters.  every time they dug more sand would collapse into the hole.  They had to board it up.

One day I was standing out there watching them work in the deep end trying so hard to get the water out with about three different hoses extracting the water 24 hours a day it seemed impossible.  Then suddenly with the weight of the digger a massive chunk of sand came off the side into the hole.  I could see the stress and the utter shock on the pool guys face.  I looked like he wanted to give up.  He then turned around and saw I was standing there.   I can only imagine how he felt.  But at least no one was hurt.

The neighbours shed was only about a meter away and with the hole getting bigger there were nights were I just was not sleeping with thoughts of my neighbours shed falling into this massive hole we have in our back yard.

So more tears and lots and lots of stress.  To be honest I have never felt so stressed in my life.  The guys from Penguin Pools were amazing they kept on working and never let the pressure get too much.

The stress turned into excitement the day that the pool was craned over the house and into my massive stress pool!

Then I had the stress of ensuring it was all up and running before the start date of lessons.  I had pretty much filled up lessons and I wasn’t sure it was all going to be totally finished.

My husband put the fence in just in time for lessons to start and I was away.


I had an incredible first summer!  After the stress of putting the pool in and all the stress and tears it was worth it.  I love, love, love teaching kids to swim and it was so exciting to have heaps of new kids to teach in my new community.


I am looking forward to my second summer!


If you want to book lessons with me then contact me at

See you in the water soon!


Will my child forget what they have learnt over the winter?

I had a few parents ask me this question as I was finishing lessons last week.

Will my son or daughter lose everything they have learnt over the winter?


I guess you could look at it like riding a bike.  You learn to ride and then sometimes spend quite a while before you jump back on your bike again.  You might be a bit wobbly to start but after a few goes you are back to where you were originally.

Every child is different, some children may digress more than others especially if they have just started to learn to breathe, as it sometimes takes a wee while to master the skill of breathing.  If your child is now swimming down lengths of the pool then it may take them a few lessons to get back to where they were before, but then we will be away and ready to build on what we had learnt previously.


I would suggest taking your children to the pools as much as possible.  Weekly if possible, even if they are not having structured lessons you will be surprised at how much they retain from just playing.

I often have had children come back after the Christmas break of 6 weeks and are better that when I saw them at the end of term 4 and all they had been doing was playing in the pool every day at Grandma’s house or their own house.

Don’t be too concerned that they are not swimming properly and are just playing I assure you they will still be learning.


If you happen to go to Auckland during the winter be sure to pop in and use their facilities as Auckland pools are FREE for under 16 years!  Free for everyone in South Auckland.

So get to the pools during the winter.  The hot pools are always great, they have a great soak and splash time on Thursday mornings for mums with toddlers/preschoolers.  It costs $6.10 for you and your child.

Have fun this winter and I will see you all next Summer!

email Helene at


So I decided to write a blog all about ME!


It is so great to have a job I truly love.






Swimming Lessons 175




  • Swim safe (assistant swim teacher award)
  • Pre schoolers certificate
  • Infants certificate
  • School Aged certificate
  • Disabilities certificate
  • Adult Certificate
  • Aust Swim certification
  • Swim Ed Certificate
  • National certificate in Sport and recreation.









Lessons run in Papamoa, Tauranga in the Summer. or






A great instructor stands out from the rest!


What is a great instructor and how do you get one?


It is often when the parents sit on the side and think


What is it that gives that edge over other instructors?




Get a great instructor and hold on to them!